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A new ocean current off South Africa’s coast

A new coastal current: the Southwest MAdagascar Coastal Current (SMACC) has been uncovered by researchers at the University of the Cape Town, South Africa.The lead author of the paper (in the Geophysical Research Letters) announcing the discovery is Mr.Heriniaina Juliano Dani Ramanantsoa, who coincidentally hails from Madagascar and is a PhD student at the Department of Oceanography, University of the Cape Town.

SMACC flows along the southwestern coast of Madagascar toward the south. The SMACC is a relatively shallow (<300 m) and narrow (<100 km wide) warm and salty surface current, which is more intense in summer and reduced in winter. The Southwest MAdagascar Coastal Current has a downstream impact on the upwelling system at the south of Madagascar which is a physical process inducing local fertilization. As such, the Southwest MAdagascar Coastal Current has key implications for studies about the greater Agulhas Current system, remote connections between oceanographic systems, biophysical coupling in upwelling systems, fisheries management, local livelihoods, and so forth. The uncovering of the SMACC has significant implications for the improved broader understanding of ocean systems around the world.

The new present goes along the south-west coast of Madagascar to the Antarctic and is a transition zone between the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean and South Africa's temperate coastal waters, says Krug